Session 82: "What falls down......" or "Comes down............."

  21st day of Fellnight: 

After breakfast in the Swinging Sword Inn, the group headed back down the road they travelled up last night towards Waelvrun's Wagonworks. Garet had been turned invisible by Grog who was deep in concentration. Bandur was slightly ahead of the others and could see 4 children playing on a small cart, 2 pulling and 2 sitting on as it went round and round. Bandur could hear a rumble, then felt a tremor, then the ground opened up beneath him and he fell with the cart and 4 children into a large sink hole.

Aerie was fist at the edge, Bandur was laying on his back looking up, the children had landed on top of the earth 'hill' around Bandur and had begun to cry out for help, their mothers etc. Getting her rope she threw one end to Grog and shimmied down into the hole. One by one the children were hauled up to very thankful and grateful parents. One by one the group descended as Bandur had found/seen something. This was no ordinary hole. Aramil and Karion were the last down as villagers were keen to help. As Aramil descended the rope and called for it to be dropped down he noticed a disturbance in the earth beside him, then footsteps leading down the small 'hill' of collapsed earth. 'Garet', he said to himself.

The 'cavern', now revealed by the appearance of the sink hole, was some 100ft in diameter. Bandur had noticed a passageway leading north and a door to the east.

Aramil and Karion watched the northern passageway. Garet, still invisible, pulled on the rusty ring on the side of the door. He noticed 2 cloaks and an empty water skin lying on the floor to the left of the door but ignored them. Aerie and Bandur moved up the corridor until they came to two statues, obviously Dwarf, 2 large, squat figures armed with stone battleaxes standing guard. To each side were passages, access was an easy squeeze past the statues. Garet, still invisible, moved slightly up the northern passageway. Grog, 'Lightbringer' in hand, called forth the magic light and shouted to Karion and Aramil to join them. They both rushed across the chamber and entered the pasageway.

The group pushed ahead, following the eastern passage, Garet, still invisible, in the lead. Suddenly the ceiling cracked and a metal cage crashed down into the passage, completely blocking the way forward, or back, 'Crash', a second cage came crashing down, Aramil jumped one way, Fabien the other but Grog was caught in the middle and trapped within the rusty bars of the cage. Grog cast firebolt which he had prepared, and blasted one of the bars into oblivion. Fabien standing too close after jumping out of the way of the falling cage, was hit by the firebolt too. Bandur tried to bend the bars with his axe but just couldn't force that final bit of bend out of the rusty bars to free Grog.

Aerie flew up into the roof space and noticed a number of chains passing through channels. With no room for her wings she hung onto the chain, Anor climbed up behind her. Karion climbed up and over the rear cage and Zindra climbed up that chain into the roof space.

Crash, crash, 2 more cages came down, one in front of the group and one in the middle but no-one else was trapped. Garet, still invisible, saw a door at the end of the corridor and rushed ahead. Pulling the door open he saw a half-orc standing amazed, frightened and confused how had the door opened, he hadn't opened it. Then as Garet swung his first blow and the invisibility wore off he slammed blow after blow into the half-orc. He was dead before he hit the floor.

Garet found a series of leavers and pulled the ones that were in the up position, cages started to rise off the floor. Grog was freed, Anor, Zindra and Aerie just dodged out of the way as the cages were raised back into the ceiling hideaways. The ceiling had been plastered over to cover the hidden cages, a slit in the door allowed the operator to see down the corridor and drop the cage onto those unaware of the danger above.

Aerie looked across towards Aramil, she was worried. After watching Bandur breaking the news to Aramil of his Father, and seeing how the fire in the young half-elf's eyes had all but flickered out; the exhaustion evident on his face the next morning telling a concerning tale, Aerie grew concerned. Of all the current party members, she knew first hand how it felt to lose a family member you'd been searching for. His distraction, and exhaustion were both evident as they dealt with first the pit, then the cages; and even now as they filed into the room with the levers. If he kept this up he'd get himself, or worse still, possibly all of them killed. She didn't envy him, as at least she'd had the trip from Riverguard to grieve quietly, but the young lad wasn't getting such a luxury; however if he continued to stumble around looking lost he was going to get himself, and everyone around him, in trouble.

Catching the lad gently as he entered the room she pulled him to a corner away from the doors, waving off the others with a murmured "give me a minute." Gently gripping the lads shoulders, she met his gaze, and tried to convey her understanding through her eyes. Swapping to her native tongue, Aerie murmured to Aramil in elvish:

Aerie: "I see your loss, Aramil, both of them; your Father, and what you believed to be your purpose, your goal. I see the pain and confusion, and I understand it, empathize with it even; but I need you to put it on the back fire. I- we, the party, really- need you to focus on the here and now. Loss, disappointment, pain, confusion- they are all a part of Life, just as much as joy, love and pleasure. I won't tell you how to grieve, or how to feel- it is not my place to do so; but I will ask that you remember that you have been rallied to a higher calling. It may seem like it was through pure coincidence or happenstance, but in the 150 plus years I've been interacting with Aerdrie Faenya, I've yet to see an actual coincidence. The Gods work in mysterious ways that are beyond our comprehension, and something tells me that you did not join us by sheer coincidence. You still have a path to walk, Aramil- a very worthy one, I may add as the fate of the world as we know it may very well hinge on our actions and choices. It may not be your initial path, nor one you'd ever thought you'd walk, but that is also a way of Life." 

Squeezing his shoulders gently but firmly, Aerie managed a wry smile for him and continued:

 "My Father used to tell me the same thing every time Life hit me hard, as it is hitting you; and if you'll excuse the bluntness of it, I'll impart this life-changing wisdom to you: What doesn't kill you, only serves to make you stronger; so suck it up buttercup and thank Life for the lesson, because if you learn it well, you'll get to live better another day."

Aramil, stood listening, his head a whirl. Listening but not really hearing, or at least taking it in. He felt disconnected, as though what he had learnt was some how beyond anything he could have ever anticipated or was ready to here ever. Not all of what he had heard made sense.

He had spent the whole of the night thinking it through, over and over again. It just didn’t seem right, not the father he knew. He was never irrational or erratic, yet some of what he heard about that was written in the story did not ring true to him. He wasn’t in denial just disbelieving.

He was in the hear and now, his head elsewhere, he was on auto pilot. He thanked Aerie, at least she had been sensitive to his plight. He looked at her. He felt  misery and pain like he had never felt before, this was worse than when he lost his mother.

Aramil smiled, nodded simply saying:

Aramil: "I will try, but no promises, but I will try."

One last thing for now, he paused, looked directly at Aerie and said:

"Thank you".

Tears in his eyes he turned away, needing to be alone with his troubles.

The chamber they all stood in had been hewn out of the rock by Dwarves, a very long time ago. It was probably part of the ancient Dwarven city of Tyar-Besil. In the centre of the room was a large stone block. Written on it an inscription: Bandur translated:

'DO NOT DISPLEASURE THE DWARVES'